Schulz Names Roster for U-20 CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament in Mexico

Top Three Finishers at CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Final Qualifying Tournament Earn Berths to 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia From Aug. 16-Sept. 2, 2006

CHICAGO (January 9, 2006) – U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team head coach Tim Schulz has named the 20 players that will attempt to qualify the USA for the 2006 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Championship via the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Final Qualifying Tournament, being held in Mexico from Jan. 18-27, 2006. The top three finishers in the tournament will advance to the world championship being held in Russia from Aug. 16-Sept. 2, 2006.

“It was a very difficult process,” said Schulz of picking the 20 players for qualifying at the end of an eight-day training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. “The coaching staff deliberated every night and we went back and forth on lots of players. I know there is going to be some exciting internal competition for starting spots and that’s a good thing. I also think we have a lot of depth, so we can go to our bench during the tournament and have fresh bodies when we need them.”

Schulz’ squad will enter the qualifying tournament with some experience on its side as seven of the 20 players were members of the U.S. team that finished third at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship in Thailand. The roster features five players who are sophomores in college, 13 who are in their freshman years and two high school seniors in forwards Lauren Cheney and Kelley O’Hara, the youngest player on the squad at 17.

The other two forwards selected along with Cheney and O’Hara are Amy Rodriguez and Jessica Rostedt, both of whom led their college teams in scoring as freshman, Rodriguez at USC and Rostedt at Virginia. Rodriguez had two goals and two assists in Thailand while Rostedt had three goals despite playing only 178 minutes over four games.

The other Thailand veterans are defenders Stephanie Lopez and Stephanie Logterman, both of whom played every minute of that tournament and are the most capped players on the roster at the U-19 level with 24 and 21 caps respectively, defenders Meagan Holmes and Nikki Krzysik, and goalkeeper Kelsey Davis. Lopez, who earned her first cap with the full U.S. Women’s National Team at the Algarve Cup in Portugal last year, made the roster for the USA’s trip to the Four Nations Tournament being held Jan. 18-22 in China, and will join the U-20s in Mexico immediately after the completion of that competition.

Rodriguez is the only player besides Lopez to have been capped at the senior level, playing in two matches at the 2005 Algarve Cup, but Cheney, the 2005 NSCAA High School Player of the Year, has been in two training camps with the full team. Cheney, Rodriguez and Lopez were also members of the U.S. Under-21 squad that won the Nordic Cup last summer, the USA’s unprecedented seventh straight triumph in that tournament.

“We have a lot of diversity on the team,” said Schulz. “I like that we have the air-game covered, and we have creativity covered, and we have utility players that can play in a multitude positions. We also have great camaraderie. It’s a tightknit group already.”

The USA was drawn into Group B at CONCACAF Qualifying and will open the tournament on January 19 against Jamaica. The young Americans will face Surinam on January 21 and finish Group B play on January 23 against El Salvador. All the U.S. first round matches are being held in Cordoba at Rafael Murillo Vidal Stadium and will kick off at 2:30 p.m. local time/3:30 p.m. ET.

The Group A matches, featuring host Mexico, Canada, Trinidad & Tobago and Panama, will be played in Veracruz at Luis Pirata Fuentes Stadium. The first and second place finishers in the groups after first-round play will “cross-over” and meet in the semifinals in Veracruz on January 25. The championship game and consolation match, which carries tremendous importance as the final spot in Russia will be at stake, will also take place in Veracruz. Those games will take place on January 27.

To no one’s surprise, several major college soccer powers are represented on the U.S. roster with UCLA having four players, plus Cheney who has committed to the Bruins for next fall. Santa Clara, Notre Dame, Texas and Virginia have two players apiece. Lindsey Beam becomes the first player from Charlotte to make a U.S. qualifying roster, while Sarah Wagenfuhr holds that same distinction from Florida State. Allie Long, who had never before attended a U.S. Youth National Team training camp before making this roster, finished a fine freshman season at Penn State last fall. O’Hara, the leading scorer for the U.S. Under-17 National Team in 2005, will attend Stanford in the fall.

A total of 16 teams will compete for the third FIFA women’s youth world title, made up of four from Europe, three teams from both Asia and CONCACAF, two each from Africa and South America, one from Oceania, and host Russia. The European entrants have already been determined with Germany, France and surprise qualifiers Finland and Switzerland earning berths at the most recent UEFA U-19 Women’s Championships held last August in Hungary. The South American qualifying tournament, currently being held in Chile, will finish on January 20.

In Mexico, the USA will only be looking to earn a berth to Russia, but also to regain the regional title lost to Canada at 2004 CONCACAF qualifying in Canada. The USA lost 2-1 in the championship game.

Both goalkeepers chosen by Schulz attend UCLA as Val Henderson, who played a major role in 18 shutouts for the Bruins in 2005, is a sophomore and Davis is a freshman.